Survey reveals chauvinist tendencies still the norm among dads in Tainan

CNA , TAIPEI

Taiwanese fathers, particularly those from Tainan, were urged to spend more time with their kids in order to "nurture worthy men and women."

Taiwanese fathers were also urged to do their share of domestic chores in order to create happy families.

The Tainan Family Education Center, an organization affiliated with the Tainan City Government's Bureau of Education, earlier this week released the results of a recent poll of fathers of elementary school students in Tainan that examined relations between family and paternal roles.

Aware

The poll -- conducted to coincide with Father's Day, which falls on Aug. 8 -- found that fathers in Tainan were more aware of the need to be a good father than their counterparts of several decades ago, but their ability to turn this awareness into action was still lower than expected.

The poll found that fathers in Tainan generally have a male chauvinist mentality, believing that the father should be the family's breadwinner, while household matters and bringing up children are the responsibilities of the mother.

`Too busy'

Many Tainan fathers were absent during their children's upbringing, using "being too busy making money" as an excuse, the poll found.

Commenting on the results of the poll, Huang Chin-ya (黃琴雅), a lecturer with the Department of Living Science at Tainan University of Technology, said most of the fathers who responded to the poll agreed that children needed a father to be at home to lead them, care for them and keep them company.

Absent

Most fathers were still absent when it came to spending "quality time" at home or attending school-related parent-teacher activities.

Huang said more and more research papers have shown that the more fathers are involved in family affairs and domestic chores, the healthier the children will be mentally.

This indicates that the place that fathers occupy in their children's hearts is hard to fill, Huang added